Siri is an artificially intelligent personal assistant that can simplify your life by doing many things on your iPhone or iPad by voice command. It can schedule appointments, set up reminders, text or call people, and more in a matter of seconds. This article will show you how to use Siri. If you need help enabling Siri, consult this article.

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Steps

1

Press and hold down the Home button. Your phone has to be turned on for Siri to be activated, but it does not have to be unlocked.

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2

Wait for a sound and a purple light. You should hear two beats and see a purple microphone light up. Then Siri will pop up and ask, "What can I help you with?"

Click on the "i" icon to the right of "What can I help you with?" for a list of what Siri can do for you.

If nothing happens, you may not have Siri enabled. See this article for instructions on how to enable Siri.

3

A list of commands that you can use Siri for will appear. Tap on one of them to choose it. Next time, you can just say the command written for Siri to accomplish the same thing.

4

Highlights of the most useful tips and tricks of Siri:

Establishing personal connections: if you say <name in your Contacts> is <relationship to you, such as "my mom" or "my wife">, Siri will remember that person with that title. Next time you say "call my wife" or "text my best friend," Siri will know who in your Contacts to connect to. You can do the same to institutions ("<name> is my favorite restaurant") and organizations, as long as their phone number or other information is stored in your Contacts.

Dealing with hard-to-pronounce names: If someone in your Contacts book has a name that's hard for Siri to recognize, write out the phonetic spelling of their name as their nickname in your Contacts. Find their entry in your Contacts, tap "Edit", tap "Add Field," then select "Nickname." The Nickname field will appear under their name and you can now write the phonetic spelling of their name (e.g. Cloe for Chloe) to assist Siri in understanding you.

Correcting Siri's mistakes: If you say something into Siri and it misinterprets you, you can tap on the text box with your misspelled query and correct it with your keyboard. It takes a few extra keystrokes, but Siri learns from it's mistakes and will be able to understand you better next time -- a worthy long-term investment.

Changing Siri's default search engine: Siri connects with Safari to execute your search queries, from questions about anything in the world to mathematical operations when you're splitting the restaurant bill. To change your default search engine for Siri, go to Settings >> Safari >> Search Engine to switch from Google to another alternative.

Canceling a command: If you'd like to cancel a command you just made to Siri, say "Cancel" or "Goodbye" and Siri will shut down. You can press and hold the Home button again to restart Siri.

Having some fun: For a quick laugh, ask Siri to sing you a song, say "knock knock," or tell it that it's sexy. You can also ask Siri to call you anything, such as "your highness," and ask it more about itself. For more, check out this list!

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Part 1 of 2: Ask Siri to Get in Touch with Your Contacts

1

Ask Siri to call a contact. Simply ask it to call the contact in your phone. Say, for example, "Call Amy." If it hears your request correctly, it will respond by saying, "Calling Amy" before the call begins. Wait for the phone to ring as it initiates the call.

2

Ask Siri to text a contact. If you want it to text your contact, simply say "Tell..." followed by the contact's name followed by the message. For example: "Tell Kelley I'll be there." Then Siri will ask you to confirm the message by showing it to you and asking if you're ready to send it.

Confirm the message with an affirmative answer, such as "OK" or "Yes," or just press "Send" to send the message.

3

Ask Siri to send an email. Say "Email Jon about the trip." This will create an email to Jon with the subject, "Trip." Then Siri will ask, "What would you like the email to say?" Say the words you'd like it to place in the email. It will then show you the final message and will ask if you're ready to send it.

Confirm that you would like to say it by giving an affirmative answer or pressing "Send."

4

Ask Siri to retrieve one of your contact's addresses. Just say, "What's Danny's address?" If the address is in your contacts, then it will pop up.

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Part 2 of 2: Ask Siri to Perform a Variety of Other Tasks

1

Ask Siri to search the Internet. Just say "Search the web for gardening tips." It will search this subject and list of relevant web sites will come up.

2

Ask Siri to set up a meeting. Simply say, "Set up meeting at noon tomorrow." It will say, "OK, I set up your meeting for tomorrow. Are you ready for me to schedule it?" This will bring up your calendar with the correct date and time. If there is another meeting scheduled then, It will let you know.

Confirm with an affirmative answer or press "Confirm."

3

Ask Siri to give you a reminder. Just say something like, "Remind me to call Ashley." It will then follow up by asking, "When would you like me to remind you?" Tell it the time you'd like the reminder, such as "at ten a.m. tomorrow."

It will show you the reminder and time and will ask if it should create the reminder. Give an affirmative answer or just press "Confirm."

4

Ask Siri to check the weather. Just say, "What's the weather like today?" It will bring up the local forecast.

5

Ask Siri to set an alarm. Just say, "Wake me up tomorrow at 6 a.m." It will confirm the request by saying it set the alarm for the time you requested.

6

Ask Siri to write a note. Just say, "Note that I worked for ten hours today." The note with the message will pop up.

7

Ask Siri for information. Ask it something like, "How many cups are in a gallon?" It will look up the question and will report back with a result.

8

Ask Siri to play a song. Just ask it to play a song that you've downloaded into your iTunes music library. Just say, "Play 'The Weight'" and Siri will begin to play the song.

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